Maine! Breakfast
Bald Eagle: York County Maine, USA, September 2024 — I made a quick stop along the river on my way to do errands yesterday and found this immature Bald Eagle having breakfast on large fish on the bar on the far side. Still too far away but beggars can’t be choosers and, in fact, I felt blessed to be there at the right time. The crows were, of course, also very interested in the proceedings. While I was watching a fly-fisherman came walking down the stream and put the Eagle off its breakfast. I am sure it came back if the tide did not get to the fish first. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. This is a heavy crop upscaled and processed in Photomator.
Maine! Blue Dasher Art
Blue Dasher Dragonfly: Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk, Maine, September 2024 — One of our most common dragonflies in Southern Maine, but still worth a close look, especially when artfully posed on the September grass head. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Insect recognition auto focus. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Not so strange frame fellows
Great Blue Heron and Great Egret: York County Maine, USA, September 2024 — As I have mentioned before, this month we have been treated to mixed flocks of herons and egrets, probably staging for migration, in our river marshes. This is a manual focus stack…the birds were as they are in the frame but, of course, it was impossible to focus on both of them at the same time. I took two shots, one focused on the heron and one on the egret, processed them in Photomator, then merged them in Pixomatic, and finally touched the image up in Photomator again. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering.
Maine! Marsh edge
Sitting at the edge of the lower Mousam River marsh in Kennebunk, watching herons and egrets on a beautiful September day. Sony a5100 with the Sony E 10-18mm f4 zoom at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Landscape Scene Mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Incoming!
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, September 2024 — The group of Egrets and Herons were close, by Maine standards, to the trail already when this Great Egret decided to move to a pool right in front of me. I got the camera in action and flight mode in time to catch a burst of shots as it crossed the marsh toward me and landed. Another study in wing power. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my action and flight modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Flood tide on the Mousam marsh
Mousam River marsh from the Kennebunk Bridle Path in Kennebunk Maine. Not quite high tide. I got out before the path flooded. 🙂 Sony a5100 with the Sony E 10-18 f4 zoom at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Landscape Scene Mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! See my wings!
Great Blue Heron (and Snowy Egret): York County Maine, USA, September 2024 — The Heron flew 50 yards from one spot in the marsh to another and landed just about on top of the Snowy Egret. Massive wings to lift a relatively massive bird. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my action and flight modifications. Animal/bird recognition auto focus. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Cross purposes
Great Blue Heron and Great Egret (Snowy in the foreground): York County, Maine, USA, September 2024 — It is odd here in Southern Maine to see Heron’s and Egrets hunting together. Egrets tend to hunt communally with a mix of Great and Snowy being common…but I think of Herons as being solitary birds. The past week or so though, numbers of Great Blue Herons have been congregating with the mixed Egret hunting groups, perhaps getting ready for migration. These two were apparently not bothered at all by their proximity. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Merlin
Merlin: York County Maine, USA, September 2024 — Not a great photo (too far and against the light) but a great bird, for me at least. I am not totally positive I have seen a Merlin in Maine before, and this is only one of a very few I have ever seen. It came winging into the top of a tree well out in the marsh while I was turning to go back to the trike and sat long enough for a burst of photos, before it swooped out across the marsh to amuse itself with a flock of Greater Yellowlegs…putting them all up in the air and then chasing them. In the process it got too close to a Kingfisher perched on a tall pole (a dead sapling stripped of all its branches) way out by the river, and was itself set upon. The Kingfisher was just defending territory, but I looked up the Merlin’s diet and Greater Yellowlegs, while certainly at the larger end of the scale for Merlin prey, is definitely on the list. Bold bird! The Yellowlegs is at least equal in size to the Merlin. And all this from what amounts to a meat-eating parrot. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Heavily cropped, upscaled, and processed in Photomator.
Maine! Knot what it looks like
Great Egrets: York County Maine, USA, September 2024 — I spent over an hour sitting at the edge of the marsh a mile inland from the mouth of the river, observing a mixed feeding flock of Egrets and Herons and took several sequences of these two as they hunted close together. They struck this pose a few times. You will have to study the image closely to see that their necks are not, in fact, entwined. It is not a knot…just a trick of perspective and the way the foreground grasses frame the birds. Still, it makes for an interesting photo. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.